Not surprised, it's like 90% Sox fans here in Lake County, IN. I go to the city and see more Sox gear than Cubs gear. There's more Cub fans in Iowa, Southern Indiana, and North Illinois and South Wisconsin.

When I was living in Munster, 1967-1979, Munster was solidly Cubs country. Being a White Sox fan put me in a very small minority. Being known as a White Sox fan at Munster High made you a social outcast, so there were probably a few White Sox fans in the closet. That was even true in 1977, when there was more excitement for the Cubs' run that year than the White Sox run that is more fondly remembered among the respective fan bases. And it was true too for the area of Hammond where the family auto parts store was located. All of my grandfather's employees were Cubs fans. During summer afternoons, Cubs games would be playing in the accounting area. I wondered if it was at least in part a class thing because Munster, at the time at least, was more affluent than the rest of Lake County. Still the Times always treated the Cubs as the No. 1 baseball team in its circulation area. When I went down to Bloomington for school, I was in Reds country. Of course, those were the days of the Big Red Machine.

Everywhere else I've lived since, Arizona, Alaska and California, with the exception of suburban Milwaukee, people have to be reminded that the Cubs are not the only major league baseball team.

I was once in Dublin, Ireland, talking to a man from Liverpool, England about sports. Although he had never been to America, he knew that Wrigley Field was to baseball what St. Andrews in Scotland is to golf.